ACCIDENTS AT WORK

Accidents at work are very common both in Italy and abroad. There are four types of damage in this area: lethal accidents, accidents with permanent damage, accidents with temporary damage and occupational illnesses.

Lethal accidents. White deaths

The definition of white death is that the accident was not caused by a person but by lacking prevention and protection measures (technical, organisational and procedural) that must be implemented by employers to make a workplace safe. In Italy, safety at work is regulated by Legislative Decree 81/2008, also known as the Unified Text on Work Safety, which incorporates the European Directives for the health and safety of employees that aggravates fines for those who breach the rules. Between 1996 and 2005, Italy was the country with the highest number of deaths at work in Europe; if this phenomenon has registered a 29.41% decrease in other countries of the European Union, the same decrease only reached 25.49% in Italy.

Accidents causing permanent damage

Permanent damages entail the loss of a limb or health damages that are impossible to cure, ever. In Italy, following a substantial decline in accidents during the '80s (20,000 a year), we are experiencing a setback in the last few years bringing us back to the post-war period: 30,000 accidents occur in Italy every year.

Accidents causing temporary damage

In Italy there are about 600,000 of such accidents every year. Temporary damage means an injury that can be overcome in a few days up to a few months.

Occupational illness

This is a damage caused by the slow, long-term harmful effects of a job, materials employed or other negative factors present in the environment where one works (INAIL); there are 58 types of occupational illnesses in the industry sector and 27 in agricultural sector.

Working out the number of temporary illnesses is rather difficult as the criteria for health checks and monitoring vary over time. Roughly, INAIL (the national institute for insurance against accidents at work) registered 25,000 cases of occupational illness in the last five years.

As far as injuries on the workplace are concerned, or in itinere accidents (occurred on the way to or from work), Iuraconsult will help the Client in getting the substantial part of the compensation called differential damage, which is not covered by Inail and that consists of biological and asset damage, existential damage, moral damage and loss of professional opportunities.

Illegal workers also have the right to this compensation.